Category: The Ball

Gordon Smith’s resignation this week, after nearly three years as Chief Executive at the Scottish Football Association, came initially as a surprise, though it seems rather less of one now that the idea has sunk in.

The full extent of the financial horror at Portsmouth, then, is starting to become apparent. It is starting to feel as if every time the club’s administrator, Andrew Andronikou, opens or moves anything, there...

So, farewell then, Match of the Day 2 – at least, farewell in its current guise as the best football programme on television. The long-predicted transfer/defection of former business journalist and current and forever...

This week’s Video Of The Week comes courtesy of RSC Anderlecht’s YouTube page, and is the complete 1976 European Cup Winners Cup Final between Anderlecht and West Ham United. West Ham’s achievement in reaching...

At a time when stock market flotations were all the rage in top football circles, performance-related pay (PRP) was all the rage in public sector/civil service offices. Both ideas proved to be rubbish (see...

The 19th FIFA World Cup kicks off in nine weeks today, and as such Dotmund continues his almost-in-depth look ahead to this summer’s festivities. Today is the beginning of his preview of each of the eight groups, having been sent foraging for facts on the internet with only his trusty huge mackerel baguette for company. Predictably enough, we start with Group A.

As football club nicknames go, “The Hatters” isn’t the luckiest. First Luton headed for a remake of their 1988 FA Cup semi-final meeting with Wimbledon this season, in the Blue Square Premier. And, for...

It’s a question that many supporters of struggling teams have asked themselves over the years. Would you take a cup final appearance and relegation in the same season over years of relentless mediocrity? As...